I Never Told You My Real Name
by Aachi
Summary: Cissnei hoped she would find Zack alive. Obvious Crisis Core spoilers.


Author's notes

First of all, this is my first fic. I've read fics for years but this is my first time writing one. I'm more of an artist and less of a writer. I just finished playing Crisis Core. I knew how it would end obviously, but it's still so sad...

Since Cissnei goes off in her copter (I don't know if she goes alone or not) and Reno and Rude go off in their chopper to look for Zack and Cloud I think they would at least find Zack's body at some point. Also I'd like to think that Zack wasn't just left there up on that cliff, so this is what I thought of.

It's also worth noting that I disregarded the events of Last Order even though the only thing that would go against what's here in my story is Tseng and Gun going out in a helicopter also. Instead I went solely with Crisis Core and left Tseng in the office. Also, Before Crisis is being disregarded as well since I haven't played it because of the impossible criteria to meet to get this cell phone game and I only know some basic stuff about it, though in that game Cissnei probably does know what happened to Zack…

I don't know what Cissnei's real name is but she keeps saying at the end of Crisis Core that that one isn't her real one. So I found a name that seemed like it suited her, Seren is a Welsh name. Those name meaning sites are awesome by the way.

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII or 'Zack the Puppy'

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The clouds gloomed overhead in the wasteland outside Midgar, threatening to break loose with another sudden downpour as it had done only a short time before. The rain kept falling and stopping in odd patterns this last hour or so as a Turk division ShinRa helicopter passed over the barren terrain.

A young red-headed woman piloting the chopper reached up to her communication headset and pressed one of the buttons on the outside of the earphone.

"Reno, Rude, have you found anything yet?"

"No signs of the fugitives, but we just saw a rather large ShinRa army unit head back into Midgar." The bald Turk answered through her earpiece. "It's possible they reached the targets already. No reports from Tseng about it just yet."

"We have orders from Tseng to bring them back alive, the army had different orders for the targets. We have to keep looking for them." The red headed woman answered back, nervousness in her voice.

"Right, you just leave this side to us Cissnei." Came Reno's response, "Maybe you should head to the direction the army's troops came from, I'm sending you the coordinates on your cell."

"Roger. I'll head there now. Cissnei out." She hit the 'end transmission' button on her headset and shakily put her hand back with the other on the control stick and headed toward where the army had been seen.

"Zack, I hope you're still alive. You said you could handle the army chasing you, and I believed in you. You have to still be alive." She sighed to herself, "Glad I got a chopper to myself, as anxious as I am right now someone would surely start asking me questions."

Only more barren land went underneath the helicopter with no evidence that anyone ever passed through the desolate area. She checked her coordinates again, "Should be right up here..." What was that? She could see something dark on top of a cliff not too far away. She turned on the battle systems in order to use the targeting cameras to zoom onto the figure in order to see. Her blood suddenly ran cold as she saw the image on the monitor. "Zack!"

Instinctively her hand shot to her headset buttons, "Cissnei here, one target confirmed nearby the coordinates you sent me. Target two is nowhere to be seen, rendezvous immediately at the area."

"On the way!" Came Reno's voice.

She prepped the chopper for landing and set it down as close as she could to where Zack was laying on the ground. She grabbed the medical kit and ran toward the body hoping that he was just badly injured. "He can't be dead, he can't be dead, he just can't!" She chanted to herself in a mantra.

The closer she got to Zack the more her hopes became shattered. She could see more blood on the ground with every step she took. She could feel her face pale and the only thing from turning loose her stomach contents on the ground was her years of Turk training. "Zack, no..."

She dropped the medical kit thoughtlessly, as if she had forgotten it was in her hands and sunk to her knees close to his body. She instantly felt the warm blood on her knees and lower legs. He had died very recently. She reached for his hand to feel for his pulse, already knowing what she would find.

Her hand felt no signs of life in him. She took in a shaky breath and shook her head. "Zack, you said you could handle the army. I know you could take them on, so why did this happen? You're stronger than that!"

Tears threatened to fall from her eyes, but yet again the only thing stopping them were her years of training to squash any emotions that may interfere with her missions and role as a Turk. She looked at his face, he was smiling. In spite of her despair she grinned. He was always so happy. She wasn't really surprised that he had smiled as he died as well. He must have accomplished what he set out to do.

"So I guess you became a hero, huh? That's where the other one we were looking for is. You helped him get away didn't you?" She let out a sigh, "You know, I believed you were dead that whole time. It had been four years. I thought you died at Nibelheim, that's what they told everyone, of course the ones who took you to Hojo's lab knew you were alive, but no one told me. I had accepted your death all that time ago, and when I was sent to retrieve escaped samples, I never thought it would be you. I was so surprised when I saw you. That's why I tried to do what I was assigned at first. I was so confused... When I sorted things out in my head I tried my best to help you get away. That's why I gave you the motorcycle the company issued to me."

She shook her head and looked up to the sky. She could see the black figure of Reno and Rude's helicopter heading her direction. "You know, Tseng has eighty-eight letters from your girlfriend." She sniffed sadly, "She was really lucky to have you. You would always flirt with me and every other girl but everyone knew you were in love with her. Of course, we could never tell her what happened. Damn company secrets and policies." She slammed her fist into the dirt beside her, slowly bringing the appendage, now covered in his blood, back to its place on her lap. "We could only accept her never ending letters addressed to you."

Behind her Reno was landing the copter, she knew she only had a few moments of her one-sided conversation left. "Zack, you were a very close friend to me… and in my heart you had become more than that. I knew you were in love with Aerith, so I never was going to tell you about any of this, I was happy just to be your friend… and then I thought you died at Nibelheim." She sniffed again, fighting valiantly to hold back emotions. "I became a different person after that, and just when I get over you, you pop back up out of nowhere, alive and well. I thought for sure that if you could live through all that, that surely you could make it out of this whole mess. Why did it take so long for us to be able to look for you with the orders to bring you back alive? If we had gotten to you first you would still be alive and we would have been able to save you from going back to those horrible experiments!"

She sniffed again, it seemed like all the tears that were behind her eyes were trying other ways to get out. Behind her the helicopter had landed and Reno and Rude were walking toward her.

"One last thing Zack, I never told you my real name. It's Seren, it means 'star'. It's the name my parents left me before they died and the name I grew up in the orphanage with. Tseng gave me the name 'Cissnei' when the company took me away when I was still young. He said I had to become a different person in order to become stronger."

She gave his hand a squeeze with her left one that she just now realized had not left his after she had checked his pulse. "I sure will miss you Zack. I'm sure many people will." She let his hand go and put both of hers in her lap just as Reno and Rude came up behind her.

"Seems we failed our mission to bring him back alive," Reno groaned.

"There's still the other target, he's nowhere to be seen, we should go look for him," answered Rude.

"Oh yeah, that blonde one right? We better get moving. Don't know how far he got." Reno said, just now seeing the line in the ground made from the Buster Sword being dragged across it. "Looks like he left us a nice little trail to find him with."

"No."Cissnei spoke quietly. "We should let him go. If the army left without killing him then we've completed our objective of keeping that one alive."

"But it shouldn't be hard to catch a weakened guy dragging a big ass swo-"

"I said no!" Cissnei snapped at him. Her unstable emotions causing her to lash out at Reno.

"Ok! Ok! Jeez! Calm down." Reno put his hands up in front of himself in mock defense.

"Reno I think you should stay quiet right now." Rude simply stated to his partner. Though Cissnei never said anything about it, the quiet and observant Turk could tell that she had liked the man whose blood she was now kneeling in. It was completely obvious to him after she had thought he had died at Nibelheim and how she acted when she discovered he was alive again. To find him now dead must be hurting her badly. Of course Reno, being as dense and completely oblivious as he was had no idea whatsoever. Even if he did he'd still say the wrong things at a time like this.

"So what should we do now then if we aren't going after the other guy?" Reno never did listen.

Cissnei only sighed sadly and stood up. "We're going to take Zack's body back to Tseng. We can make arrangements for his funeral." She reached down and grabbed Zack's hand pulling him up slightly. "Rude will you give me a hand and can you pilot my chopper back? Reno can take yours back by himself."

He came over and took Zack's other hand and pulled his arm around his neck and supported his body with his free hand. Rude knew why she wanted this arrangement but Reno wasn't as quick. "Why can't you pilot your own bird? Wanna poke the dead guy with a stick or something? You know that's stuff kids do with dead animals they find." Reno smirked as he poked fun at Cissnei. He always was always rude and brazen, but he didn't know that Cissnei actually _knew_ this guy and was close to him. They all had briefly met Zack during the Genesis Army's attack on Midgar, but they had only exchanged words quickly.

Without saying anything and barely jostling Zack, which her left arm was currently trying to help Rude support, Cissnei swiftly punched Reno in the face. Completely not expecting it, he took the punch directly in his left eye.

He stumbled backward and put a hand to the offending wound. "What the fuck Cissnei! Why'd you fucking punch me?!"

Only glaring death at Reno she started walking, giving Rude the hint to walk too so they could get Zack's body to her helicopter.

Rude gave him a look that said 'I'll tell you how you screwed up later.' But said, "Reno, take the chopper back. We'll meet you at ShinRa and afterward I'll find you a raw steak for that black eye you're getting."

"Black eye?! What the hell? I'm getting a black eye!?"

"Well it's already getting awfully purple. It looks kinda weird with your red marks on your cheeks." The bald man stated.

"What the hell Cissnei!? I'm gonna get you back for this!"

Cissnei only continued to walk in unison with Rude, trying to keep from jostling Zack's body too much between them.

Reno stomped off and absent-mindedly grabbed the medical case that Cissnei had left on the ground before climbing into his copter. As Cissnei and Rude lay Zack in hers Reno took off and headed toward Midgar.

Rude climbed into the pilot's seat as Cissnei closed the hatch and sat in the back by Zack's body to make sure he wouldn't move around too much.

He started it up and they took off in the same direction as Reno. After a few minutes of silence he stated bluntly, "I know how you felt about this guy Cissnei. Though I'd never met him for more than a few minutes I know he was a great guy too. You shouldn't blame Reno. You know he's just an oblivious idiot who doesn't know what's going on or when to shut up."

She looked at the back of his chair sadly, not at all surprised but she asked anyway, "You knew how I felt about Zack huh?"

"Of course I did. You know I've always been good at observing people Cissnei. It's one of my best skills as a Turk. Good observation skills make a good spy. Reno… well you know he's the kind that only knows what's going on if he's told." Rude smirked, "Even though you believe he deserved that black eye, you might give him a chance to understand why you did it. You know he has no clue why you punched him."

"You can tell him if you want. I don't really want to talk to him for a while." She said miserably. The young woman was such a mix of anger and sadness she kept going back and forth in her emotions all the while still trying to squash them down.

Rude looked back briefly and nodded to her knowingly. He turned back and continued flying. They were inside Midgar's air space now and were almost to the ShinRa building.

"By the way, are you sure that other guy will be alright?"

Cissnei looked at Zack's face, his smile still somewhat present. "I'm sure he'll be fine, I know he had to of gotten away safely and he should be able to make it to Midgar. That area wasn't that far away from the city. He may even be here already."

Rude nodded to himself as he landed the copter on the helipad next to the one Reno had landed on. The red head was leaning against the vehicle waiting with a medical team that he had called for. They had a gurney ready to transport Zack's body.

One of the medical members was tending to Reno's black eye, or at least trying to. Reno kept swatting her hand away and making faces at her that distinctly told her to go away. The nurse finally took the hint as the other two in her team went to the copter to retrieve the body.

Cissnei took one last look at Zack's blood covered face before the medics pulled the sheet over it. It would be the last time she saw it. Even though he was dead she would always remember that smile of his.

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Please review! I have more in my little plot of what happens to Cissnei and my interpretation of why she doesn't show up in the events of FFVII. If this was liked by anyone at all I'll write those ideas out as other chapters…

But for now this will be a one shot.


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